


Glorious Purpose

by KlayterMcCabe



Category: The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Interlude, M/M, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-20
Updated: 2013-06-20
Packaged: 2017-12-15 15:04:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/850912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KlayterMcCabe/pseuds/KlayterMcCabe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Between Asgard and Earth, Loki is made into a new man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Glorious Purpose

Loki opened his eyes to see a night-sky filled with an impossible number of stars. A thousand-thousand suns peered down at him from the void of space. Loki did not know where he was, but the view was beautiful.

He sat up, very slowly. Loki's body was a mess of pain. He closed his eyes again and concentrated on breathing, pooling magic with each inhalation.

He did not have much magic left.

Loki pushed what he had through his body, mending bones and untearing muscle, repairing shattered nerves and ruptured veins. He stood up and opened his eyes. His body felt whole around him, strong, though his magic was depleted.

He was a very long way from home.

That was probably for the better.

Loki heard soft chittering before several roughly man-shaped things loped into his field of vision. They were hideous creatures, with desiccated features and burning eyes. Loki smiled at them.

"I hope," he murmured, "that whatever manner of monster you are, you are capable of speech."

One of them approached him, coming to a stop only after it stood much too close. Loki did not step away. The thing opened its wide mouth and screeched in Loki's face, revealing three rows of small, sharp teeth.

"I suppose," said Loki mildly, "that is a no."

The thing reared back to hit him. Loki pulled away and threw up an arm, catching the blow against his battered armor. He clenched his hand into a fist. _Compared to Thor—_

Loki stopped that thought before he could finish it. He crashed his fist into the side of the thing's face, then brought his elbow up under its chin. Its jaw snapped shut, those vicious little teeth biting off a chunk of its own tongue.

Even without his magic, it felt good to fight someone against whom there was the possibility of victory. Loki laughed out loud, a sound just as fierce as the thing's shriek. The thing reached for him, still screeching, and though Loki spun away, it caught a handful of his hair and jerked him back.

Then the things' friends joined the fight.

Loki went down laughing.

000

He woke up in pain again. The man-shaped things were all around him, and Loki's arms were bound behind his back. His ribs ached with each breath, and his shoulders were wrenched at a painful angle. Under normal circumstances, it would be a trifle to summon up the spells to free himself and wreak terrifying vengeance upon his captors.  
Under normal circumstances, he would still be in Asgard.

"Dare I ask if you foul creatures have a purpose in keeping me here?" Loki asked, voice dripping with contempt. He pulled himself into a sitting position and realized he was too dizzy to stand. He was no longer wearing his armor.

"What are you?" asked one of the things. Loki did not know which one had spoken.

He opened his mouth, hesitated, then lied. "I am an Asgardian, freshly cast out of his home."

"And how did you come to this place?" With each word, the voice sounded less chitinous and more human.

Loki smiled. "I fell." He rolled his eyes up towards the stars. "Quite a ways, it seems."

One of the things tangled its fingers in Loki's hair and pulled him to his knees.

"You waste words on frivolity," the thing speaking said. Loki realized it was standing behind him.

Loki shrugged. Pain turned the smooth movement into an inelegant jerk. "I have often been accused of such."

"It has been a long time since we had visitors," said the thing. "Such a long time."

One of them released Loki's hair, and he rolled his neck and breathed deeply. "With such hospitality as this, I'm shocked you receive so few guests." He ran a tongue over his split lip. Loki did not care to be on his knees, forced to look up at creatures unworthy of his attention. He gathered himself to stand, only to have heavy hands hold him in place.

"I'm sure you will indulge my taste for conversation," said the thing. "Tell me all about yourself."

"There's little to say," said Loki, "and it is all _dreadfully_ frivolous in nature."

One of things, making the same little chittering noises as earlier, buried its knee in Loki's stomach. Loki doubled over, forehead pressed to the ground, and the thing yanked him back up.

"A beating?" Loki asked. "How facile."

"I would hate to disappoint you." The thing did not come in to Loki's line of vision, but it ran two shriveled fingers along Loki's cheek.

This time Loki licked his teeth instead of his lips.

000

The skin over Loki's chest had been peeled back, his ribs broken at the sternum so that they could be pulled apart, his chest open like a terrible present. Loki's mouth kept filling with blood.

He had screamed as little as possible throughout the process.

"I would hope," said the thing, "that this experience is novel."

Loki was at a loss for witty responses. The words were buried somewhere in his throat. He was not a stranger to pain, nor to defeat, but Loki had never been tortured before. He spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor.

"I'll take that as a yes," said the thing. It touched something wet and warm inside his chest.

This time, when Loki started screaming, he didn't stop.

000

"No person has ever been free," said the thing. Loki thought of it as The Other Thing, as it was the only one of them to speak. "Look back on your life, and tell me if you ever have known freedom."

 _When I was young_ , Loki wanted to say. _When Thor and I were children, and neither of us yet knew that he was the brighter son and I was the darker._

But even then he lived under Odin's watchful eye, and what he remembered as freedom was only youthful ignorance.

Perhaps Loki was free in his infancy, between the time that his Jotun parents abandoned him and Odin abducted him. Perhaps Loki was free in the time that he fell between worlds, after letting go but before he crashed to the ground.

"Tell me," said The Other. "When have you been free?"

"As I was falling," said Loki. _After I was abandoned,_ he did not say. _But before I was found._ He kept very still, wearing his own clothes and seated of his accord. He spent his magic as quickly as it came back to him, repairing the damage done to his body.

"There is no such thing as freedom," said The Other again.

"Freedom is a state of perpetual falling," said Loki. "Horrifying. Glorious." He swallowed. "I am sure a loathsome creature like yourself has never experienced such circumstance." There was no trickery to the words, only venom.

"You bore me, petty god," said The Other. "And I'm sure by now you have learned that it is better to hold my interest."

"By all means," said Loki. "Redirect our conversation."

"No person has ever been free," said The Other.

"Of course not," said Loki. He let The Other's words roll over him, trying not to hear a single one.

000

"Perhaps this," said The Other, "is a novel experience."

"I was a _god_ in Asgard," spat Loki. "Not a blushing virgin. I've fucked men, women, and horses all."

But there was novelty to this, being laid open and brutalized by a force that he could not escape. Usually when Loki fucked people he hated, it was because he had initiated the encounter. Usually, it was the other party who came away worse for the wear.

Usually, pain was not the sole objective.

"This is so you know," said The Other, thrusting deeper, "that no person has ever been free, least of all the gods. But it is in my power to give you a great gift, to offer you glorious purpose." It yanked Loki's head up, so that he could see the massive figure walking towards them.

"This is Thanos," said The Other, "and if you are very lucky, you will prove yourself worthy of being one of his messengers."

A laugh escaped Loki's mouth, high-pitched and then sliding higher, a sound he did not know he could make, the sound of his own screams eating themselves.

"Yes," he managed. "Yes, of course. Who better than a Liesmith to bear your messages?"

And so Loki met Death on his knees, and was cured of any lingering bravado about his willingness to die.

000

Over Loki's head, the night-sky was filled with an impossible number of stars. A thousand-thousand suns peered down at him from the void of space. And the universe was too much for him, Loki knew. But somewhere out there was a single planet, revolving around a single star, and that, at least, he could make his own. If he could never be free, at least he could crush one small part of the galaxy under his heel.

Somewhere, there were millions who would believe him when he claimed to be powerful.


End file.
